Women victims of violence in their community wonder whether they should leave or stay and debate the consequences of their choices (will they still be welcomed into the “kingdom of heaven”?).
Women Talkingan adaptation of Canadian Miriam Toews’ novel of the same name about sexual assault in a Mennonite religious community (from which the Manitoba novelist is based), is Sarah Polley’s first feature film in more than a decade.
Stories We Tell, a documentary about her mother, who died when the filmmaker was 11, was released in 2012. Sarah Polley revealed that she was born from an extramarital relationship of her mother, a casting agent, with the Montreal producer Harry Gulkin. Since then, she has only signed one screenplay, that of the excellent television series Alias Grace, adapted from a novel by Margaret Atwood. A major concussion had kept her away from film sets in recent years.
Women Talking is a return to fiction for the filmmaker ofAway from Her and of Take This Waltz, first known for her acting as a child then in films by Atom Egoyan, Isabel Coixet and Jaco Van Dormael, in particular. This is a full-throttle charge against the patriarchy, inspired by real events in a religious community in Bolivia, but which rakes well beyond the religious shackles.
A dozen women – as well as their daughters -, victims of rape and violence in their community, are wondering if they should do nothing or react. They were mandated by the other women of the community to determine the way forward, after a spontaneous referendum.
The men of the community, absent for the day, ask them to forgive their attackers, on pain of being excommunicated, as they try to reconcile their faith and their dignity.
The profound injustice they suffer, the state of slavery, of ignorance in which they are kept – they are illiterate – are appalling. It feels like the beginning of the last century – to which the saturated colors of the images contribute, bordering on monochrome –, while the story is set in 2010.
Sarah Polley succeeded in creating a tense, terribly hard and poignant camera, with a theatrical touch Twelve angry menby Sidney Lumet, which is reminiscent of both the white ribbonby Michael Haneke, and to The Scarlet Maid, by Margaret Atwood. Beyond the theatrical score, there is a subtlety in its staging and a depth in its dialogues that make Women Talking a unique and particular object of cinema.
This hard-hitting film counts on an astounding cast: Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy particularly stand out in roles at odds with each other. Mariche (Jesse Buckley) suffers from a sort of Stockholm syndrome when faced with her abusive husband. Salome (Claire Foy) is mad at those who attacked her children. Ona (Rooney Mara), pregnant by her attacker, becomes the most philosophical, to the chagrin of those who demand action.
These women are surrounded by their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, and one man, August (Ben Whishaw), the boys’ teacher, who takes notes of their meeting and tries to give them a voice.
Sarah Polley, while signing a fundamentally feminist work, avoids the pitfalls of Manichaeism. Oscar finalist for Best Adapted Screenplay Away from Herin 2008, delivered one of the most brilliant films of the past year and the most successful feature film of his career.
Indoors
Drama
Women Talking
(V.F.: what they say)
Sarah Polley
With Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley
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